turning brightness to max on the s4

kyrax12

Platinum Member
May 21, 2010
2,416
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81
So I like how the screen looks when the brightness is maxed out. I was wondering if this could cause problem with the screen though. Does the back light wear out faster?
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
Only thing it will hurt is battery life. AMOLED doesn't use back light.

EDIT: You may want to turn down brightness when doing anything that stresses the CPU/GPU, like gaming. Most high-end phones can overheat and throttle or crash/restart, especially in a hot environment.
 
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Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
O. How does it light the screen then?

There's a layer of OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) which receive current and are themselves lit, rather than LCDs which produce color but are too dim on their own and need either back or edge lighting for illumination. Similar to the old CRT technology, which didn't require separate lighting, either. Part of why you get such vibrant colors with OLEDs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMOLED

I should say that even with LCDs I don't think backlighting fails all that often, since (I think) most backlighting in modern smartphones is by LEDs which tend to last a long time.
 
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Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
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OLEDs (at least Samsung's) are prone to burn-in, so running at max brightness will likely give you a ghost image of your navigation and notification bars after a few weeks/months. Eventually, the screen will begin to become slightly more redish as well, because blue OLEDs have shorter lifespans than the other colors and will begin to dim first.

This isn't a problem if you don't plan to keep your phone for more than a year, though.
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
OLEDs (at least Samsung's) are prone to burn-in, so running at max brightness will likely give you a ghost image of your navigation and notification bars after a few weeks/months. Eventually, the screen will begin to become slightly more redish as well, because blue OLEDs have shorter lifespans than the other colors and will begin to dim first.

This isn't a problem if you don't plan to keep your phone for more than a year, though.

Is that dependent on screen brightness or just static content on the screen? In any case, it's probably safer to run it at 50 to 75 percent brightness rather than full, and frequently turn off the screen (or set auto to lower interval) when not in use.
 

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
141
106
Is that dependent on screen brightness or just static content on the screen? In any case, it's probably safer to run it at 50 to 75 percent brightness rather than full, and frequently turn off the screen (or set auto to lower interval) when not in use.

Both are factors, unfortunately.
 

zerogear

Diamond Member
Jun 4, 2000
5,611
9
81
So I like how the screen looks when the brightness is maxed out. I was wondering if this could cause problem with the screen though. Does the back light wear out faster?

The blue will wear out faster. :)
 

Bman123

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2008
3,221
1
81
Don't run at Max brightness. I'm sure you'll get burn in, I've gotten it on 3 oled screen phones and I avoid oled now because of it.